Water agency wants payment for Collins' expenses

Hundreds of dollars of bills charged by former county Water Resources Agency board member Steve Collins last year are among the regional desalination project-related expenses for which water agency officials want to be repaid using a California American Water credit line.

According to a review of a series of invoices submitted by the county water agency, Collins billed the agency for attending several meetings related to the project, including fees and mileage, through the first three months of the year, and sought reimbursement for a Washington, D.C. hotel stay and a per diem for meals stemming from a January visit last year.

Collins billed the agency for project-related expenses as late as March 31, according to the invoices, well after questions were being raised about his relationship to project management firm RMC Water and Environment. He ended up resigning from the county water board less than two weeks later, on April 11, while under fire for being paid by RMC for his work on the desal project throughout much of 2010 while he was a public official.

Collins has since been charged with two felony conflict of interest counts for being financially interested in three key agreements at the core of the desal project. He's also facing 31 felony and six misdemeanor charges that allege he accepted payment for work he either didn't do or wasn't entitled to. The allegations also sparked investigations by the county and Marina Coast Water District, as well as the District Attorney and the state Fair Political Practices Commission. They also helped send the project partners into mediation, and ultimately resulted in the project's demise.

Last summer, Collins sued the county, seeking lost pay as a result of the allegations and payment for work he said he did on the project.

Now, even after Cal Am withdrew its support for the project — effectively killing the proposal, the county water agency is seeking repayment for about $1.15million in project-related expenses from the Cal Am-backed credit line. In all, the agency's asking for about $1.43million for expenses from the Cal Am credit line, including the $286,000 already approved by the supervisors last year.

The bulk of the expenses — about $700,000 — were incurred by RMC, which submitted a series of invoices raising questions about what the county water agency actually got for its money. None of the Collins charges appeared on the RMC invoices, and he said he stopped working for the firm in December 2010. RMC principal Lyndel Melton signed an affidavit swearing that none of Collins' work was included in the water agency bills.

In addition to the RMC bills, legal expenses cost nearly $415,000, while water agency staff work cost another $182,000.

After initially offering scant billing information as part of its original funding request submitted earlier this month, water agency officials added a more detailed cost summary and provided a series of 19 invoices as part of their updated request to be considered by the supervisors today.

However, Cal Am has said the credit line is no longer available, and Supervisor Dave Potter, the board chairman, said last week the request would likely be pulled from the agenda.

According to records, the county has spent nearly $4million on the desal project and related work, about half on legal expenses.